


Survive

by SherlockianGirl14



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cas is still gone at this point, Gabriel isn't dead, Hallucifer, Leviathans, M/M, s u r p r i s e!!!, season 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 05:47:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7789033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlockianGirl14/pseuds/SherlockianGirl14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the midst of the leviathan threat, the Winchesters may think that they don't need another pair of hands busying the bunker. However, what they don't know is that Gabriel's help is exactly what they require. (Sam will come to see this more than his brother.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Survive

The boys had just gotten back from Frank’s nasty-ass caravan, feeling more than a little defeated. These dickbags had cost them Bobby, and now Frank was almost certainly dead, too. Guy might have been a dick, but at least he was helpful. Now, they felt entirely lost. They had no idea what these big-gob assholes wanted, but from where they stood, their behaviour made no sense. Curing cancer? Property?  
So you could look at it either way: it was either the best time for Gabriel to come to them, or the worst.  
On one hand, they were weakened and weary- that could mean they were less likely to argue with Gabriel. They were tired. It had been a long couple of days. They didn’t need this.  
Of course, they were mad, too, though. Maybe they’d kick up a fight over it, just for the hell of it, because Frank was probably dead and they didn’t have Cas and Bobby was gone.  
As luck would have it, Gabriel caught them in the first state.  
He was waiting outside the bunker when they arrived back. He could have made his way to the car and shocked them off the road, but then he would have no chance at all.  
When the impala pulled up, he stepping in front of the slowing car with his hands up in surrender. He knew he’d have to forget his pride. He knew he’d have to grovel.  
If it meant protection, it was worth it. There would be a price on his head to drag him back to heaven- they’d turned a blind eye when Gabriel had stayed out of it, but him fighting the Big Plan? He’d never get away with that.  
Sam got out of the car first, looking at him like he was some sort of… Well, not a ghost. Maybe a ghost to a normal guy. He smiled weakly.  
“Hiya, gigantor. Can I talk to you boys a while?”

The hardest part of it all had been persuading Dean to let him keep Kat.  
He managed it eventually- he knew that it was thanks to Sam.  
“Fine. The dog stays in the library. And who the hell calls their dog Kat, man?”  
“It’s short for Kathy,” Gabriel replied. “And thank you. Really. Thank you.”  
“Whatever. Just don’t let me get woken up until it’s gone 12. Understand me? And if you still got your angel crap going on, I want a damn good breakfast snapped up for me. And a single trick, I’ll stab you myself.”  
“Yessir,” Gabriel replied under his breath as Dean turned away, heading towards his room with a shake of his head and a mutter of ‘damned archangel, wanting my damned help’.  
“So…” Sam said, trying not to smile. “Seriously. Kat the dog?”  
“Kat the dog,” Gabriel nodded.   
“Who was Kathy, anyway?” Sam asked as they walked to the library. He didn’t say it, but Gabriel could tell that he was going to be keeping watch. They didn’t trust him. That was fine. He could deal with that.  
“Some librarian a couple decades back. Let’s just say that she was closer to the porn type than the old lady type.”  
Sam didn’t reply, just shook his head and laughed in disbelief. 

After a few days, Dean had warmed to Kat. Sam couldn’t believe his eyes when Dean let her out of the library for more than just her walks. She was banned from the kitchen and his room and if she peed or crapped anywhere, she was out for good, he said, but other than that, the jack russell could stay.   
Gabriel’s library-and-kitchen-only grounding was lifted, too. He was actually proving almost helpful.  
“You know, the levis are sneaky fuckers,” he commented as he studied Sam’s screen with him, dropping a whole handful of caramel peanuts into his mouth.  
“Tell us something we don’t know,” Sam replied, a soft frown creasing his forehead as he studied the information Frank had sent them. He couldn’t pull too much from it straight away without Frank’s direct help, but he could at least get started.  
“You’re cute when you’re all grumpy and focused,” Gabriel commented, causing Sam to pause for a split second before he continued, pretending Gabriel’s words hadn’t confused the hell out of him. “But I’d say that after so long in purgatory, they’re gonna be more in the mood for simple meals than a hunt. They’re gonna want to find a way to weaken you.”  
“They said they’re trying to cure cancer.”  
“Maybe they will. But I can guarantee you that they’ll add a little something extra in there- and anywhere else that they can, too. If I were you, I’d let me snap up anything you eat from now on.”  
“Thanks.”  
“No problem.”

Gabriel and Kat were assigned their own room after a week.   
“You boys do know that if you kill ‘em, you’re gonna get your asses sent to purgatory.”  
Dean stopped eating, fork halfway to his mouth, and stared at Gabriel.  
“You might have forgotten to mention that one.”  
“Oops,” Gabriel sniped. “‘Fraid so, Dean. One Dean levi is one purgatory Winchester. Plus anyone else who’s anywhere close by, too. So you might want to think of something new.”  
“We can’t just let them live. They want to cull the earth,” Sam pointed out.  
“I’m not saying we don’t kill them, Sambo.”  
“Wait- wait. We? Really, Sam? Gabriel?” Dean interrupted. “You’re one of us now?”  
“Guess I am,” Gabriel replied, plastering a sickly sweet smile onto his face.  
“Dean, he might be the only help we’ve got.”  
“And I’m adorable.”  
“Okay, fine,” Dean sighed. “Welcome to the team.”

Sam hadn’t meant for Gabriel to find out how fucked he really was. How could you tell a guy you saw his brother in your head, that he was trying to starve you of sleep ‘til you up and died? Worse, how did you tell him when that same brother had stabbed him?  
But Gabriel’s room was next door to Sam’s. Sam was between being asleep and awake- the closest he ever got these days was to be on the brink of falling asleep. This was when his hallucinations were at the worst.   
He hadn’t meant to cry out, but he did.  
Gabriel had busted his door down within moments of hearing Sam’s disturbance, Kat in tow.  
Somehow, Lucifer’s image shook, just for a moment, when Kat the dog leapt up onto Sam’s bed, licking his face in concern.  
“Not asleep?” Gabriel asked, eyeing Sam cautiously. He walked slowly, like he was trying not to scare an injured animal, and sat gently down on the edge of the bed.   
“I- n- nope. Just can’t seem to drift off,” Sam lied.  
“Mhm. Nothing to do with me hearing you yelling ‘no’ and ‘stop’ and ‘please’, then?”  
Sam looked away, blinking back tears that he shouldn’t, couldn’t let exist.  
“Sam, tell me what’s wrong.”  
He shook his head.  
“Sam? What’s up. Now.”  
Nothing.  
“Sam, you idiot. I’m an archangel. You think I can’t fix your crap?”  
“Can you fix psychosis brought on by being locked up in hell with Lucifer and Michael for an earth year, then having your soul slapped back into you?” Sam snarled, surprising himself.  
“Oh, Sam,” Gabriel sighed. “I’m sorry.”  
“See- you can’t.”  
“No- I can. I just- you had to go through that.”  
“You couldn’t help it, you were dead.”  
“How come you haven’t asked me about that, anyway?”  
“Not my business.”  
“I wasn’t dead. I was sent someplace. Archangels, we don’t die just like that. We… We erode. It sucks,” he sighed. “It’s kind of like a pocket universe. You die a little more every day. But I escaped. Still can’t remember how. I think it tried to kill my memories first, ‘cause they’re patchy.”  
“Oh.”  
“So are you gonna let me help you out with the whole satan thing?”  
Sam nodded, biting his lip as Gabriel edged his way towards him.  
On the brink of his vision, there was Lucifer.  
And then he was getting closer. And closer.   
Then Gabriel was gone and it was just Lucifer, reaching out, cupping his face, his lips twisted in a cruel snarl.  
“You really thought he was real? Really thought he could help you? Awh, Sammy. You poor, dumb kid.”  
Then Lucifer was gone and it was Gabriel. Gabriel and Sam and Kat and freedom.   
“Thank you,” Sam whispered hoarsely.  
“I could take away the memories of him, but I don’t want to mess with your head too much. Right now, I’m going to send you to sleep. You need to keep that pretty head in order for me, so no insomnia for you.”  
“Thank you,” Sam repeated drowsily.  
Even after he’d fallen asleep, Gabriel stayed, gently stroking his hair and keeping watch over him, just because he could.

Dean caught Gabriel sneaking out of Sam’s in the early hours of the morning. Gabriel expected him to get mad, but instead, he laughed and shook his head.  
“Damn, you’ve been here three weeks and you’ve gotten your hands on my baby brother. Guess I should sit you down and tell you I’ll gank you if you screw him over.”  
“Trust me, Dean-o, you’ve got the wrong idea.”  
“Oh, sure. Let me guess- you were just getting him a glass of water? Checking up on him? Making sure he was warm enough?”  
“I mean it. Come on, you think I’m the kind of guy to play down gettin’ laid? If I’d hit that, you’d know.”  
“Okay, fair play,” Dean conceded after a moment’s thought. “Why were you in there, then?”  
“Let’s just call me an exterminator. And the pest was dear old big brother Lucifer. Oh, and Sam’s still asleep. Catching up- he’s not exactly been doing a lot of it. I doubt that man would have the energy to get any right now. Shame, really. The things I’d-”  
“Okay, okay. Hold up, Casanova. Jeez. That’s my brother, and I really will smite you.”  
“Cute.”  
“So you’re saying he’s not...Seeing him any more?”  
“Yup. Totally satan-free Sam.”  
Dean leaned over, clapping Gabriel on the shoulder with a nod. Gabriel knew that it was the closest Dean would get to thanking him. Damn grump didn’t do too well with feelings.  
“Well, let’s go eat. Man, I’m starving.”

When Sam woke, he stumbled out of his room and into the main room of the bunker, yawning.  
“Afternoon, princess,” Dean said without looking up.  
“Damn, kid. Someone works out. Or, y’know, runs around killing monsters all day.”  
Sam glanced down at himself. Great. Of course his pyjama shirt had somehow managed to hitch itself up and twist in on itself.  
He stumbled his way into a seat as he sorted it, leaning over the table and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.  
It was nice, to feel out of whack because he was drowsy from just waking up. As opposed to feeling drowsy because he didn’t sleep at all, that was.  
“How you feeling, Sammy?” Dean asked.  
“Honestly? Like I just had the best sleep of my life.”  
“Awesome.”  
“Weird-ass dream, though,” he said. Moments later, he looked as though he regretted it, glancing nervously to Gabriel.  
“Hey! Are you calling my dreams weird?” Gabriel exclaimed, sounding hurt.  
“Gabriel, did you put in my head that we were… Did you?”  
“Would you be okay with it if I did?”  
“I think so.”  
“Then yeah, I did.”  
“You know, I’m just gonna go do some target practise,” Dean excused himself, standing up from the table abruptly.  
“So, Sam,” Gabriel turned to the younger Winchester with a sly smile. “How about we get to talking over that dream of yours?”


End file.
